SexedULTRA

Our main businesspartners in Europe:

Sexing Technologies; Inguran Europe BV; Meridiaan 17; 2801 DA Gouda; The Netherlands

and their products thanks to

“Artifi cial insemination straws of the Customer’s sexed semen are for single use insemination only and not for in vitro-fertilization or embryo transfer. Not for re-sale. Customer sexed semen is produced by Sexing Technologies using the proprietary technology of XY LLC and Inguran LLC, as partially represented by U.S. Patents: 6372422, 7094527, 7208265,

7371517, 6357307, 7723116, 7758811, and 7799569, with other patents and patent applications pending in US and foreign markets. XY® is a registered trademark of XY, LLC.”

With the introduction of sexed semen more than 10 years ago, fertility results were lower than with conventional semen. In the meantime, a lot of research has been done and numerous aspects of the production process have been improved, resulting in higher conception rates. With the im-plementation of these developments, Sexing Technologies is now producing semen under the name SexedULTRA™. Recent-ly SexedULTRA was tested in a large � eld trial in Germany.

The results of the fi eld trial were extremely satisfactory. Sexed-ULTRA™ was used in three concentrations, namely: 2.1 million, 3.0 million and 4.0 million. In addition, a comparison was made with the fi rst XY method. The results were also compared with insemination with conventional semen. The results of the study are shown in Figure 1, which shows that the results of Sexed-ULTRA™ are clearly better than the results of the original XY method. In addition, it is evident that the results of Sexed-ULTRA™ 4M are comparable with conventional semen.

Sexing Technologies produces more than 90% of sexed semen world-wide and does so for numerous large and small AI companies. In the meantime, the production of sexed semen across the board within Sexing Tech-nologies has been replaced by the new method and only SexedULTRA™ is being produced by Sexing Technol-ogies. The AI companies which own the semen determine whether the concentration will be 2.0 million or 4.0 million.

Quality Comparable to Conventional Semen

Diff erent types of sexed semen compared to results with conventional semen. The result of conventional

semen is set at 100%. The results with sexed semen are compared to those with conventional semen.

ggi.de evolution-xy.fr inseme.it umotest.com

Logo Foemina - Foreign

swissgenetics.ch

Source: SexedULTRA, a new method of processing sex-sorted bovine sperm improves conception rates; R.W. Lenz et al

SexedULTRA

84%

90,1% 90,2%

100,3% 100%

XY 2.1M 2.1M 3M

Treatment of the semen

Rel

ativ

e fe

rtili

ty (%

)

4MConventional

15MSexedULTRASexedULTRASexedULTRA

• Fertility comparable with conventional semen

• Doubles the eff ect of genomic selection

• Females from your best cows

• Increased production

• Easier calvings

SexedULTRA

Sexed semen is a signi� cant factor in the results that farmers can achieve with genomic selection. That is the most prom-inent conclusion when we consider various recent scienti� c studies on the subject.

With the arrival of sexed semen and genomic selection, the farmer’s opportunities in breeding have increased enormously. Teams from various universities have looked at the eff ects of the use and combination of diff erent strategies.

The strong contribution of sexed semen to rapid genetic progress can especially be attributed to the degree of selection within one’s own herd. In short, by using sexed semen, only the best half of the herd is needed for the next generation. Identi-fying the best is now possible earlier and with more accuracy using genomic selection. The remaining animals can be bred to a beef bull or can be used as recipients for embryos. In herds with a high genetic level, a greater portion of all animals can be bred with sexed semen and can subsequently be selected as calves. As such, breeding continues to involve selecting the best animals. Stricter selection provides higher results and sexed semen ensures more abundant selection opportunities.

Two-year-olds that give birth to a heifer calf produce more milk than two-year-olds that give birth to a bull calf. That is a signi� cant conclusion of a large American research study. The research project included 2.5 million lactations of 1.5 million milking cows in the United States. The study showed that the cows, that gave birth to a heifer calf with the � rst calving, produce over 400 kg more milk during the � rst two lactations.

When a cow gives birth to a heifer calf on her fi rst calving, then there is no signifi cant diff erence for the sex of the calf when calving for the second time. When a cow gives birth to a bull calf when calving for the fi rst time, then the sex does make a diff erence with a second time calving, and there is a clear eff ect, with an advantage for those giving birth to a heifer calf. This means that the higher price of sexed semen, when used on heifers, is already compensated with the extra milk that the bred animals produce during their fi rst two lactations.

Sexed Semen Doubles the Effect of Genomic Selection

Heifer Calves Provide an Advantage for Milk Production

Percentage of the current herd required for replacement, using regular semen

Low Average High

Percentage of current herd required for replacement, using sexed semen

S1 = Bull fi rst calf S2 = Bull second calfD1 = Heifer fi rst calf D2 = Heifer second calf Chart A: Production in fi rst lactation

In chart A - S2 and D2 shows sex during pregnancy Chart B: Production in second lactation

Source: Holsteins Favor Heifers, Not Bulls: Biased Milk Production Programmed during Pregnancy as a Function of Fetal Sex; Katie Hinde et al

Source: Evaluation of genomic selection for replacement strategies using selection index theory; M. P. L. Calus et al

305-

Day

Milk

Yie

ld (k

g)30

5-D

ay M

ilk Y

ield

(kg) 1st Lactation

2nd LactationB

A

8250

8750

8000

8500

8250

8000

7750

0

0S

S

S

S

S

S

S

S

D

D

D

D

D

D

D

D

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

2

2

7750

Farmers about Sexed Semen

from France

from Switzerland

from Germany

from Italy

Heiko Burger, Rhönland eG, Dernbach/Rhön, Germany1300 Holstein milking cowsI use SexedULTRA semen on many heifers and a few of my best produ-cing cows. Currently I am doing an experiment and testing all my heifers for genomics. In the future I will probably use SexedULTRA on my heifers with the best genomic proofs.

Dirk Schäfer, MFM Agrargenossenschaft Neu Kaliβ, Neu Kaliβ, Germany450 Holstein milking cowsI was interested in SexedULTRA semen because it brings fast genetic pro-gress and makes the best possible use of female genetic potential. Using SexedULTRA on heifers also means they have easier births as they don’t have bull calves. A surplus of females also means you have more milking cows to sell to other breeders and better selection possibilities for your own herd. All heifers are inseminated with SexedULTRA in their fi rst insemination. For the fi rst lactation cows, only the most interesting ones genetically. The lowest third of the herd is inseminated with beef semen.

Etienne Tonnot, Mailley et Chazelot, France100 Montbeliarde milking cowsWe have been using SexedULTRA semen for 3 years to increase our ge-netic progress and have more females. We are using SexedULTRA on 70% of our heifers and 60% of our cows. The lowest cows and heifers on our genomic index have Montbeliarde conventional semen. We have a lot of females so we usually sell 25 heifers per year for export.

Emmanuel Bignon, Étrelles, France90 Holstein milking cowsFor 4 years we’ve been using SexedULTRA semen to get more females. We’ve been using SexedULTRA on about 10 cows per year, the oldest and best ones, to get females from them. There is a true diff erence to the classic sexed semen. We have a lot of heifers now and we’ll start to sell some soon. The lowest-end cows have Belgian Blue semen so we can sell calves for good prices.

Christan Piednoir, GAEC de la Rousselais, Couesmes Vauce, France150 Normande milking cowsWe are using sexed semen since the beginning. We wanted to have fema-les from our best cows and to increase the number of milking cows. 80% of our heifers and 20% of our cows are inseminated with SexedULTRA semen. Now we have slightly too many females, so we sell some of them. We test all of our female for genomics. We put embryos in the lowest heifers, and the lowest cows have conventional Normande semen. There is true genetic progress this way and it helps perfectly to increase the number of cows in our herd.

Luca Micheli, Ghisalba, Italy170 Holstein milking cowsI started using SexedULTRA semen to have more females. I’ve been using sexed semen for 8/9 years. We use around 50% SexedULTRA semen.

Giuseppe Valtulini, Chiari Brescia, Italy200 Holsteins milking cowsWe are interested in SexedULTRA semen to speed up recovery time and get a greater choice amongst the animals we want to milk. We’ve used sexed semen approximately for six years now. We use SexedULTRA only on the best fi rst-calving females, the heifers are all inseminated with SexedUL-TRA. By using SexedULTRA our genetic level has defi nitely improved. On the fi rst-calving females, which we do not inseminate with sexed semen, we use conventional semen from top bulls. Today the goal is to get the highest number of females in order to improve the selection of the herd. Afterwards the strategy will be to sell excess females to generate income.

Christian Rochat, Mathod, Switzerland80 Holstein milking cowsWe were drawn to SexedULTRA semen 4 years ago: the primary reason was the poor prices for bull calves. We use SexedULTRA on our best cows to have faster genetic progress and we are using a beef bull on the others. The prices of the beef-cross calves are 3 times higher than before and now we also have too many heifers, but we keep them all!

Genetic valueN

umbe

r of c

ows